Please answer each of the following questions regarding the novel, News of a Kidnapping By Gabriel García Márquez. There are ten questions in total. Please number your responses in the same manner as the original presented here. There is no choice. I would suggest writing substantial, documented and well developed paragraphs as answers.
Since the responses involve connections between the News of a Kidnapping story and other situations, areas and ideas, I would expect that you would use quotes from the text as a means of supporting your thoughts. If you do not have textual references, in text citations in MLA format, you will lose credit for this omission.
Questions
1. How did this book, News of a Kidnapping, convey personal drama and national trauma?
2. Society was well represented in this novel, especially class differences between the guards and the hostages. Explain this thought and why it was an important factor within the text.
3. What was the final message that Maruja and Alberto portrayed at the end of the book? How was this still an example of privilege?
4. What was your opinion of Pablo Escobar’s plan to escape extradition?
5. From your readings or other outside sources, what relationships did you notice about drug cartels, the Colombian government, Colombian history in general, and the efficiency of law enforcement?
6. Why did Gabriel García Márquez entitle this book, News of a Kidnapping?
7. What were your thoughts regarding the documentary, “Pablo Escobar: King of Coke?” Did it help with your personal understanding of this book’s plot? How?
8. Which literary criticism(s) regarding this book interested or influenced you the most? Why?
9. Escobar appears very late in the reading of this book. What does his absence tell us? How do concealment and revelation play important parts stylistically in the development of this narrative?
10. One of the saddest stories in this text is that of an older woman who had apparently lost her mind. She was ultimately executed. Why is this death so important? How did it reflect upon the other captives as well as the flow of the narrative?
